2. Process in Cuisinart until chunky (do not overprocess, unless you want a jelly consistency)

3. Measure out 3 cups

4. Pour crushed strawberries, water and Sure-Jell into saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil for exactly 1 minute. Add sugar and stir for 1 more minute.

5. Remove from heat, skim any foam from the top, and pour immediately into jars*. Fill to within 1/8 inch of top.

6. Close securly, and submerge jars in boiling water (you want the jars covered by 1-2 inches of water. It is a BIG pot with A LOT of water) for 10 minutes.

* Before we started, we sterilized our jars.** IF you are planning to store the jam in the fridge, you don't HAVE to boil the jars. But, if you boil them, the jars will be shelf-stable for about 1 year. Up to you.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

So. For those of you who don't know me in real life, I'm a bit of a klutz.

Clumsy.

Sloppy.

Hasty.

Whatever you want to call it.

But, let's just say, I make a lot of careless mistakes.

Like, knocking over wine glasses on the dish-dry rack, and then foolishly thinking I could vacuum up the shards. (<-- BAD IDEA. Think - teeny tiny glass pieces flying EVERYWHERE. One month later, I am still picking them out of the carpet in the NEXT.ROOM)

Or my latest caper - thinking I could figure out how to use the hubs Soda Stream while he wasn't around, and not realizing that you have to screw the bottle in, not just hold it up to the nozzle real close.

Not-so-carbonated-water EVERYWHERE.

Which, you know, isn't the end of the world. It's just water. Unless you happened to be mid recipe-blog-photo-shoot, and your camera also happens to be sitting on the water soaked counter. And, in your haste to clean up the mess, it doesn't dawn on you that, hey, maybe a camera sitting in a PUDDLE of water overnight is NOT the best idea.

So, all of that to explain (albeit long-windedly) why there are no pictures in this post, and may not be any pictures on this blog for some time to come....at least not until I can outgrow my carelessness enough to let myself buy nice things again...

In a cast iron pot, combine rice and oil. (If you don't have a cast iron pot, any pot will do!)Turn the heat to high. Stir the rice constantly. As the rice heats, it will start to turn golden brown and start popping in the pot. Keep stirring and don't let the rice burn!When the rice is a deep golden brown, and before it gets burned, add the liquids, veggies, and spices.Bring the mixture to a boil.When the mixture is boiling, cover the pot, and let simmer for 25 minutes.After 25 minutes, remove from heat.Fluff with a fork and serve!

Pour about 1/3 cup sauce in a shallow dish.Heat tortilla in a dry pan, about 15 seconds each side.Dip tortilla in sauce to coat.Fill with about 1/4 cup chicken.Roll up and place seamside down in casserole dish.Sprinkle cheese on tip, and bake about 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Combine potato, corn, beans and 1/2 cup salsa.Follow the same method as for Chicken Enchiladas, using the Salsa Verde as the 'Enchilada Sauce'.*Note - do NOT skip the heating of the tortillas as I did. Turns out this is an integral step, as it makes the tortilla pliable. Otherwise your 'enchiladas' will be more like a 'broken tortilla casserole'...oh well.

I was too chicken to go bouldering over this bad boy. (Actually, that is not entirely true...I tried, and then cut my hand in the process. THEN I chickened out).

It was FREEZING this day, and we were ~5 miles in already. The altitude gains on this trail are significant, so it was MUCH colder at the top - about 50 degrees, compared with the 65 at the trail head.

Although the weather has reverted back to gloom, you can bet that as soon as the sun pokes itself out again, I will be back at Mount Wilson.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

A couple weeks ago I stumbled upon this awesome recipe on Angela's blog.

Being the sucker for all things 101 Cookbooks, and actually having all the ingredients for one recipe on hand, I decided to go ahead and whip up a batch of these awesome carrot cake bites:

I just made a second batch last night (with a couple modifications) and A thinks these turned out even better than the 1st batch (I disagree...so go try them both ways for yourself, and see what you think!)

1/4 cup raisins (soaked in HOT water for about 1/2 hour <--This is KEY. Do NOT skip!)

1/2 cup carrots

1/4 cup maple syrup (I used sugar free)

2 tbsp coconut oil

3 tbsp almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Combine dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl

3. Stir in fruit and nuts

4. Combine wet ingredients in measuring cup (a la Mama Pea - I love this method, do it all the time!)

5. Add wet to dry and mix to combine. Per Angela's recipe, the dough should be pretty wet. I needed to add more Almond milk to my mixture to acheive that consistency, but I think it is the key to a softer, crumblier cookie

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

*Warning - this post contains pictures of FEET. So, if you're one of those anti-feet people who get creeped out by other peoples feet, well, browse-along now.*

It's been awhile since I posted a running update, in part, because there has not been a whole lot of running going on around here. But, I'm slowly easing my way into the world of barefoot running, so I figured it was a good time for a progress report.

I finally got a pair of these for my birthday:

Unfortunately they were a leeeetle bit too small, so I sent them back for the next size up. Which should be arriving....any day now...

So, since patience is not my strong-suit, I decided to take matters into my own hands, err, feet, I guess...

That's right. I've been running completely barefoot on my treadmill a couple times a week.

I worked my way up to 2 miles last week, and when I stopped, what I thought were calluses on my feet turned out to be blisters. Ouch.

So I'm back down to 1.5 miles at a time now.

But here is the strange thing...it doesn't hurt! Based on all my research, I was expecting calf pain, soreness in my shins, etc. Maybe because I'd been running in the Nike Free for quite awhile before ditching the shoes altogether...or maybe because I'm a forefoot runner. Whatever the reason, the only thing holding me back at this point is lack of calluses on my feet.

So I'll get there.

In the meantime, my heels are still KILLING me during pretty much every standing/walking related activity, even during Spin. So, I've mom'd-up and ordered a pair FitFlops.

If I promise not to wear them in public, can we still be friends?

In the mean time, more often than not, I can be found sitting at my desk like this: